Full of It
by frosty wonder ice
Summary: Albus Potter knows that Scorpius Malfoy is a lying cheat, but why does no one else see it? And how did he end up married to the manipulative snake! Oneshot


Standard Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, yo.

I just finished writing a story with a low-self-esteem!Scorpius, so I thought it might be fun to do the opposite. =D

-o-o-o-o-

Albus Potter knew Scorpius Malfoy long before they met face-to-face. He remembered, even from very young ages, his father commenting on the Malfoy family.

"Eat your breakfast, Al, if you want me to take you flying this morning," his dad would say with a smile, picking up the newspaper to scan the front page—which occasionally made him scowl and mutter, "I can't believe this."

"What?" his mum would ask over her shoulder, shifting a slobbering Lily from one hip to the other and smacking a curious James's hand away from popping bacon grease.

"Ah, just _Malfoy_ again," his dad always grumbled and always with a frown, shaking his head in disappointment. "Up to the same tricks."

Mostly, his mum would quietly mimic the head shake, but sometimes she would turn to see what his dad was reading. These times she would mimic and add something like, "He's got them eating out of his hands. Slytherin cunning, I guess."

"Malfoy's full of it," his dad would snort, and that was the end of that. A few minutes later, the newspaper would be opened for an article inside and the front page would be exposed to Albus.

**DRACO MALFOY ELECTED TO WIZENGAMOT**

The headline would read, or something similar about the accomplishments, charities, or apologies of the Malfoy family. The articles were always full of sugary approval.

"Do they honestly believe his nonsense?" Albus had heard his Uncle Ron once rant. "All that junk about him just being a terrified kid, tricked into the wrong side of the war, _forced_ to do horrible things? I can't believe he's the wizarding world's sweetheart!"

Every other Weasley adult would grunt their agreement, and those that married into the family kept their mouths shut. No need to be dragged into the Weasley-Malfoy feud. Eventually, Albus would hear his dad say again, "He's full of it."

But Albus stopped paying much attention to the notorious Draco Malfoy when, one day, the photo accompanying the headline was not only of the Councilman but also of a young girl standing next to him, her small hand in his. Albus leaned over the table, pajama front dragging into his eggs, and squinted at the girl. She smiled sweetly, shyly, for the cameras and looked to be about his age.

Albus felt his heart flip.

Ultimately, he caught the subhead: Wizengamot Councilman Malfoy with Heir Scorpius Hyperion at St. Mungo's New Wing Ribbon-Cutting.

And so he knew her name: _Scorpius_.

Soon, she was as frequent in the newspapers as her father, the rest of wizarding world clearly finding her every bit as adorable to follow as Albus did. The more she appeared, the more she smiled her delicate smiles and fluttered her pretty eyelashes, the greater Albus's crush grew.

Until the day, legs kicking the couch awkwardly, he blushingly mentioned the crush to his mum.

"The girl that's always with Malfoy?" she repeated with a confused frown, mostly distracted by her folding spell not working on the laundry. "What girl?"

"The Councilman's daughter," Albus had mumbled, giddily nervous and blushing harder as he added, "You _know_. Scorpius."

His mum dropped her wand at that and stared at him in shock, but she broke into peals of laughter soon enough—which shouldn't be allowed, parents laughing at their children.

"Scorpius isn't Malfoy's _daughter_," she had managed to choke out. "Scorpius is Malfoy's _son_. He's a _boy_, Al!"

And then, because parents are _evil_, she had told _everyone_ about Albus's mistaken crush. The entire extended family had good laugh at him. Even his dad—_his dad!_—joined in on the teasing.

Only his Aunt Hermione had been kind enough—through giggles—to say, "Well, it's a perfectly understandable mistake. Scorpius _is_ at that age where all boys look like girls and Astoria keeps his hair long."

But it didn't matter anymore. Albus may have never met Scorpius Malfoy in person, but his embarrassment was great enough to make him dislike the other boy immediately, even if were for simply _being_ a boy. He spent the next three years pointedly ignoring every photo of pretty smiles and flowing hair. His irritation only grew when the teasing, having faded in the three years, resumed with force once the class roster arrived for Albus's upcoming Hogwarts year, the name _Scorpius Malfoy_ only a few ahead of _Albus Potter_.

Unfortunately, things only got worse _at Hogwarts_.

Albus had been careful to avoid Scorpius Malfoy on the Hogwarts Express, even standing as far apart as possible during the lineup for Sorting. He was immensely relieved when they ended up in different Houses, Scorpius to Slytherin and Albus to Gryffindor.

This could work out, he'd decided. They could go all seven years of school never interacting and soon Albus's boyhood crush would be just a blip in his past, because James and Fred had the attention spans of gnats and they'd forget it soon enough.

Everything would be fine.

Then, that first day of Potions, Albus walked into the classroom and saw the other students gathered around a friendly Scorpius Malfoy, all of them hanging on to his every melodic word—and, really, Albus had always known Scorpius would have a nice voice, even if he'd tried to stop thinking about it. As the blond described Councilman Malfoy's progressive views on wizard-muggle relations, Albus lost it.

Mostly because he, too, was instantly drawn in by that charismatic smile before realizing what was happening.

"Yeah, well, my dad says your dad is full of it," he snapped at Scorpius, gaining the attention of everyone in the room, as well as a few gasps. "He also says your dad is a lying cheat who'll say anything to make people like him."

He'd expected anger in response, like when he fought James.

Or disapproval, like how Rosie argued.

Or maybe even a snide comeback, like Dominique always gave.

What he hadn't expected was that pretty face to look so wounded, for tears to well up in those soft, almost-metallic eyes, or for Scorpius Malfoy to whisper, "I… I… Why would you say something so _mean?_" before bursting into tears and dashing out of the classroom.

Albus froze in utter shock, and then shrunk under the glares of the other students. He tried to hide behind a desk as he was met with growling reprimands of "How could you?" and "What was that for?" and "He never did anything to you!"

A fourth year Slytherin had brought a quiet, red-eyed Scorpius back to the classroom. The older girl searched out Albus to give him a threatening glower—along with renewed glares from everyone else—while she murmured encouraging words to the distraught blond.

Then class had started.

And Albus felt _horrible_.

Worse than that time he'd blown up Rosie's mini-potions set.

Worse than that time he'd lied to his father about where James and Fred had gone.

Even worse than that time he'd left Lily stranded on a tree top as a joke—which had been _Hugo's_ idea, not his, just to be clear!

After potions class ended, Albus decided he would apologize and made straight for Scorpius Malfoy—or as straight as winding nervously, awkwardly, and hesitantly around tables and benches could possibly be.

The group in a comforting cluster around Scorpius, which also included a few Gryffindors, stood firm and protective to warn off Albus, but then Scorpius's darling voice had quietly piped in, "I-It's okay. If he wants to talk, I mean…" and the other students had reluctantly left, leaving Albus uncomfortably alone in the classroom with the timid blond.

"Look, I'm sorry," Albus rushed to say, having rehearsed his apology rather than listen to his first potion's lecture. "I shouldn't have said what I did and it was wrong and mean and you didn't deserve it and," here Albus had held out a shaky hand, "I'd like it if we could–"

Albus didn't get to finish.

The next thing he knew, his hand had been snatched and he'd been spun, with his arm being twisted painfully behind his back and his face being pressed roughly into the wooden desk.

"You will _never_," Scorpius hissed by his ear, "say things like that about my father again, _understand?_"

"Ow-ow-ow-wha-?" Albus whimpered, mind still reeling in surprise. He tried to struggle free but that only made Scorpius twist the arm tighter, so he quickly squealed, "I understand! I understand! It won't happen again!"

At that, Scorpius let him go, giving him the patented sweet smile from the newspapers, and brightly said, "Good. It's nice to meet you, Albus Potter. We'll be perfect friends, I'm sure," before trotting gleefully out of the classroom, turning meek once the door opened. He quietly assured everyone waiting outside that Albus had apologized and that they were now friends, all while Albus tenderly rubbed his sore arm.

But they _weren't_ friends, and Albus intended to let everyone know what a two-faced snake Scorpius Malfoy was.

Except, no one believed him. _No one_.

The louder Albus raved about Scorpius being a liar the harder Scorpius cried, the sweeter Scorpius became, the friendlier Scorpius acted. It soon reached the point where Albus just looked like a close-minded bully and Scorpius like an innocent target. The Slytherin had perfected wounded expressions, hurt and pained tones of voice, and crying on cue to combat Albus, all while maintaining his extra-friendly, utterly selfless, and annoyingly sweet exterior to fool everyone else.

Of course, any time Albus accidentally found himself alone with Scorpius was an entirely different story. He wasn't entirely sure how someone half his weight could push him around, but Scorpius did: arm-twisting, choke holds, dead-legging, well-aimed kicks to his arse, and even, once, a punch to the kidney.

A _punch_ to the _kidney,_ for Godric's sake!

This went on for the first four years of Hogwarts.

At the beginning of their fifth year, Scorpius cornered Albus in the Charms classroom, blushing and glancing at Albus bashfully while the other students exited.

Albus rolled his eyes, knowing it was an act, and flatly said, "What do you want, Malfoy?"

Once the classroom door closed, leaving them alone, the façade dropped instantly and was replaced with a smirk and mischievous gleam that Albus had come to know well enough to make him wary.

"We are now officially dating," Scorpius loftily informed him. "Be sure to act appropriately."

"_What?_" Albus squawked, utterly shocked _yet again_ by the slight blond. "What on this planet makes you think I'd _ever_ want to date _you?_ Forget it!"

Albus meant to avoid Scorpius's dangerous violence, but Scorpius was a fast little wicked thing and soon had three of Albus's fingers nearing the breaking point.

"You _will_ date me," Scorpius ordered calmly over Albus's pleas for release, "and you _will_ be a gentleman about it. No more of this 'Scorpius Malfoy is evil' nonsense."

"I get it! I get it!" Albus wailed, having fallen to his knees before the blond in his attempts to relieve the pressure on his hand. "We're together and I'll treat you right! I promise! _Just_ _let go!_"

Scorpius did let go but gave Albus only a moment to bemoan his possibly-cracked bones before hauling him up and demanding that they eat lunch together. He was required to hold Scorpius's hand as they exited the classroom, with Scorpius walking close to him and smiling coyly at their surprised classmates. Albus, for his part, stared straight ahead, smiling through clenched teeth when Scorpius gave a threatening squeeze to his already sore hand.

This in of itself was highly embarrassing, but what was even worse was the story Scorpius created to explain why they had gone from bully and victim (not that anyone knew who the _real_ bully was) to a couple. Albus, according to Scorpius, was incredibly bashful and proud, and therefore the type to torment the one he liked. Scorpius, he'd claimed about himself, had recognized the harassment "for what it was" and found it adorable.

Thus they had supposedly worked all this out and fell deeply in lust with one another.

It was hard at first, especially because many of their classmates felt that the "new couple" needed more alone time, and the _last_ thing Albus wanted was more isolation with Scorpius, but Albus learned his role in their pretend relationship soon enough: hand holding any time they walked together, sitting closely together in class and at meals, quick pecks when they had to leave each other, and occasional brushes of the hand against an arm, leg, or cheek to show everyone how "fond" they were of each other.

As if all that weren't bad enough, Albus quickly discovered that a large portion of the student body was entirely enamored with his demon boyfriend's kind lies and he consequently came under attack by them. He found all of his books thrown in the lake, his things suspiciously missing from his dormitory, his essays were ruined if he didn't hide them, someone carved "obnoxious git" into his headboard, and worst of all, his Quidditch broom was sabotaged, leaving him to ride one of the school's old Nimbus versions—which were ridiculously slow compared to his Cosmic Catastrophe.

"You'll be fine," Scorpius said dismissively when Albus complained to him, "so stop whining. I don't want a _girl_friend."

Albus considered strangling him then but, Gryffindor or not, he wasn't brave enough to try it. Besides, at least being Scorpius's pretend boyfriend meant he had help with his homework. His grades rose significantly thanks to Scorpius's tutoring—after all, only a genius could play everyone the way Scorpius did.

In sixth year, the hand holding became more like Scorpius leaning against him, sitting closely became more like Scorpius sliding onto his lap, quick pecks became deep kisses, and the occasional brushes became full-on groping.

Scorpius Malfoy was _not_ shy.

Yet somehow _still_ managed to convince everyone that he was, and it didn't take long for Albus to be viewed as a threat to the Prince Sweet & Lovable's innocence, boyfriend or not.

Naturally, it was completely the other way around, as Albus soon found himself tied to a bed and gagged while Scorpius straddled him—mortifying enough by itself, but tack on the facts that Scorpius was a head shorter, considerably slighter, and _still_ kind of looked like a girl and Albus wondered if it was possible to burn up in shame. That Scorpius had completely dominated him despite being _the catcher_ didn't help his pride any.

Albus didn't complain too long though, since, well, it was _sex_, for Merlin's sake and demon or not, Scorpius Malfoy was definitely attractive (Albus quickly developed a theory that Scorpius was an incubus). Once Scorpius stopped tying Albus to the bed, having determined that Albus wasn't going to run screaming anymore, it quickly became _fun_ to learn all of the blond's weaknesses and render his haughty control to gaspy neediness. Yes, Albus was rather smug that he could turn Scorpius Malfoy into a moaning, begging lover.

Actually, to Albus's great surprise, Scorpius rarely kept the act going around him. Even in crowded hallways, Scorpius would mutter rude comments under his breath to Albus while smiling at everyone else, and Albus reluctantly had to admit that the sarcastic blond was unexpectedly quite funny. When he stopped hating the Slytherin every second of the day, he was shocked to find that he sort of _admired_ Scorpius's social talent.

After graduation, Scorpius could go into any field he wanted. After all, he had learned all of his conniving ways from his father, who had made sure to gain the favor of the wizarding world. Apparently, despite the horrors of the wars, wizards and witches were very traditional and liked to follow strong pureblood families.

With his abilities, Scorpius naturally went into politics and was soon loved by everyone in the Ministry the same as he'd been loved by everyone at Hogwarts.

It was actually quite terrifying.

But along with graduation, Albus thought that Scorpius would be finally finished with him. He was gravely mistaken.

"You're going into Healing," Scorpius ordered, showing up at the Potter house barely a week after they'd left Hogwarts. "I need my fiancé to be in a respectable position."

"F-Fiance?" Albus sputtered.

Scorpius handed him a small, intricately designed box which held a pair of matching white gold rings when Albus popped it open. "Yes. You are proposing tonight at dinner. I'll have an elf send you the arrangements, so be on time and dress _appropriately_. It will be on the cover of tomorrow's _Prophet_, you realize."

"No way!" Albus protested, tossing the box back at Scorpius. "I played along at school, but this is my _life_ we're talking about!"

A few minutes later, when Albus was pressed face to the ground with Scorpius sitting on his back, twisting his leg and knee in painful directions, he instead agreed, "Yes, yes! I love you, honey, baby, darling, cupcake! I'll be on time and dressed appropriately, my love!"

They were to be engaged for precisely five years Scorpius explained the next morning, having demanded that Albus spend the night with him after the proposal. He amusedly smiled down at the article in _The Prophet_ which wrote of their school-sweetheart romance and said that five years was long enough to avoid the air of rushing into things.

Albus viewed it as five years to design an escape plan.

Instead, he spent the five years becoming a healer—he was shocked to find that the career suited him rather well—and he even moved into a well-sized, well-furnished flat with his "fiancé." At only two years in, the terror he had experienced from watching Scorpius work the personable magic grew into a strange fondness. Scorpius was a mastermind when it came to manipulating but he never really used the control he gained. Yes, Scorpius's wants always took priority and he was not afraid to charm his way into getting what he wanted, but his wants were never anything too great. In fact, it seemed as though his greatest ambition was simply finding joy in playing the angel everyone expected him to be.

Then, during year three, Albus discovered Scorpius's stash of old _Prophet_ articles that had pictures of his own younger self. Apparently, Scorpius Malfoy, too, knew Albus Potter long before they met face-to-face and, well, Albus couldn't help but feel a sort of bond with that.

So five years went by and Albus never got around to making an escape plan.

Five years came and went, and so did their wedding.

Five years and Albus maybe, possibly, probably, actually, truly, honestly loved his twisted little demon in some twisted little way.

And now, as Albus stands overlooking the beach from their honeymoon suite, Scorpius sipping from a colored drink next to him, he has but one question.

"Why me?"

Scorpius smiles warmly and flicks a tiny paper umbrella at him.

"Because you're the only one who knows that I'm full of it."


End file.
